In 2008, a helicopter delivered Strycker and two companions to a remote field camp at the bottom of the world, leaving them with a three-month food supply and much to learn about the behavior, habitat and ecology of region's more than 250,000 Adélie penguins. Check out this delightful excerpt describing his first encounter with one of the debonair beasts:

"The bird was supremely curious. It teetered, wobbled and edged closer, then walked a slow, deliberate circle around us, inspecting the members of our sea-ice safety classfrom every angle ... With impeccable manners, the penguin did not touch anything. It carried the air of a gentleman adventurer, eager and friendly, generally reserved, and a bit reckless."

In their article, authors Anthony Ricciardi, Michelle E. Palmer, and Norman D. Yan argue that just as building codes can help protect people and structures during an earthquake, a precautionary system is needed to protect against invasive species.

View full sizeRoy Lowe/U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceTufted puffins return to the Oregon coast in spring to breed and raise their young.

Researchers propose that when yawning spreads between chimps, it reflects an underlying empathy between them.

Matthew Campbell and Frans de Waal studied 23 adult chimpanzees housed in two separate groups. The chimpanzees viewed video clips of other chimpanzees, in both groups, either yawning or doing something else.

They yawned almost three times more frequently in response to watching members of their group yawn versus the other group.

Results, the scientists write in the Public Library of Science, raise the question of whether contagious yawning among humans shows the same biases: favoring members of the same social group over different social groups.

View full sizeChristina Christensen/Courtesy Oregon ZooPacky was a cuddly 1-year-old when this birthday shot was taken. He turns 49 this week.